Employees said they had video surveillance of a man stealing an e-cigarette kit from their store, but the man told a deputy he put it back. It wasn’t in his possession. The video didn’t show him putting it back so the deputy started looking around. He found the kit nearby, hidden under a rock.

Allan Michael Smith, 27, Bloomington was arrested by Greene County Sheriff’s Deputy David Elmore on Sunday, November 25.

Deputy Elmore responded to the Pinewood Plaza gas station on State Road 45 in eastern Greene County after dispatch got a call from an employee saying Smith and a woman had been in the store, taken an e-cigarette Smoke Stick V8 kit, and walked out with paying for it. The retail price was $49.99.

When Elmore arrived, Smith and the woman said they were the ones accused of stealing but they said they didn’t and they let the deputy search their bags and their person. They didn’t have the kit, but Smith allegedly said he did walk away with it at first but he went back to the store and put it back.

Deputy Elmore reviewed the video from several angles and reported it showed Smith taking and concealing the item but the video did not show him returning it.

Elmore said he did not find evidence to show the woman had any involvement with the theft and she was released, but Smith was taken into custody.

When GCSD Deputy Harvey Holt arrived on scene to assist, Holt took Smith to the Greene County Jail while Elmore continued to search the area for the missing item.

He found it, under a rock near storage units near the store.

Smith’s bond was set at $2,000 surety with ten percent allowed. On November 25, he posted $200 cash, was released and ordered to appear in court for his initial hearing next Monday, December 10.

When he appears in court, he will be formally charged with theft, a Class A misdemeanor, and false informing, a Class A misdemeanor.